Erika Menendez, 31 years old, who has a history of mental illness, is expected to argue that while a court-ordered psychiatric exam found that she understands the charges against her, she was not mentally well when she allegedly pushed Sunando Sen in the path of an oncoming No. 7 train at the 40th Street-Lowery Street station in Sunnyside, Queens, last month.

“Her position is that she was mentally ill at the time,” said criminal defense attorney Joseph DeFelice, one of two attorneys who represented Menendez during a hearing Monday in Queens Criminal Court.

Attorney Steven Raiser, who was retained by Menendez’s family, also appeared on her behalf. A later hearing will determined who will represent her at trial.

The state criminal code in New York allows for two kinds of mental illness defenses, DeFelice said.

The hearing Monday was to announce the details of a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation in which Judge Dorothy Chin-Brandt said Menendez was found “fit to stand trial,” meaning that she is fit to proceed because she understands the charges against her and her surroundings.

It will be up to the State Supreme Court judge assigned to the case to determine if she can move forward with a defense that she was not mentally well on the night of Dec. 27 when she allegedly committed the crime.

Menendez, who was at courthouse, did not appear for the brief hearing after her attorneys waived her appearance.

Judge Chin-Brandt did not disclose any other details of the evaluation that was ordered after her preliminary hearing last month.

DeFelice also said he would not go into any details of the evaluation.

The announcement came on the same day that prosecutors announced a grand jury had indicted Menendez and upgraded the murder charges she is facing, adding two counts of second degree murder to the top count of murder as a hate crime.

“The defendant is charged with having been motivated by hate when she allegedly shoved an innocent man into the path of an oncoming train,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement.

Prosecutors often charge defendants with different degrees of murder so they have options as they look for a conviction.

Menendez in charged in the death of Sen, an Indian immigrant. She faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted. Menendez, who has been held Riker’s Island and the psychiatric ward at Elmhurst Hospital since her arrest, is scheduled to be arraigned on Jan. 29.

According to court records, when asked by investigators why she pushed Sen, Menendez allegedly said, “There is no reason. I just pushed him in front of the train because I thought it would be cool, I did it because he was Muslim, I am prejudiced, since the Twin Towers.”

DeFelice took issue with the hate crime charge.

“If a person is mentally ill, they don’t understand what they are saying or what they are doing. She could have said she was Christopher Columbus,” DeFelice said. “They could be babbling or saying something. There is no veracity behind it.”